Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: 2012

Thursday, December 27, 2012

John 7,28-29. Christmas Eve

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

John 7,28-29 513

Christvespers

Adam and Eve

24. December 2012

1. Almighty God, who has given us Your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon Him and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that we, being regenerate and made Your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by Your Holy Spirit (Book of Common Prayer 21-22). Amen.

2. So Jesus proclaimed, as He taught in the temple: „You know Me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of My own accord. He who sent Me is true, and Him you do not know. I know Him, for I come from Him, and He sent Me.“

3. On this holy night, we sing praise to the Little Child of Bethlehem, Jesus the Christ. During His ministry, Jesus taught who He was and from where He came. The 2. Person of the Triune God, the Son of God the Father, was incarnated in the womb of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. Nine months later, Mary’s Son, was born in Bethlehem. Joseph then named Him Jesus, just as the angel Gabriel told him to do.

4. As the Son of God, Jesus is the Crown Prince of all creation. When we celebrate His birth at Christmas we often picture Him as a peaceful baby sleeping in a wood manger. This gentle Child is still Divine with all His Godly attributes at his disposal. The little baby Jesus cuddled in Mary’s arms is the omnipotent, omniscient and eternal Prince of creation. To look at Him you would not realize this. He looks like any other crying baby complete with dirty diapers and other infant responsibilities.

5. In Jesus we see God’s immanence manifested in all His loving glory. When the Triune God created human beings He created us male and female in His Divine image and likeness. God desired to dwell among mankind in the Garden of Eden. Jesus, therefore took up into Himself the human nature. The Son of God took on human flesh and blood. Just as Adam and Eve heard the footsteps of God in Eden, so too did Mary and Joseph hear the patter of little Divine feet when Jesus scampered around the house.

6. Rationalists, Deists and Modernists prefer a transcendent God who is way up there in heaven while we are far below here on the earth so that only the barest minimum of contact between the spiritual and the natural realms occurs. The God revealed in the Bible, however, is an immanent and incarnational God who enjoys showing up in the very midst of His creation. Just as we converse and interact with friends and relatives is the way God intended to converse and interact with us. And so He does. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is the culmination of God’s will.

7. People get skittish with all this talk of God and man intermingling. Perhaps this is partly why people get their nose bent out of shape when they see a Nativity set prominently displayed in the borough square. Americans are comfortable with a separation between the Divine and the human as well as a separation between God and the civil realm. God, however, has different ideas about these things, and He will not be kept out of His creation. When God wants to show up and make His presence known He will do so and He will not worry about whose feet He steps on or whose opinions He offends in the process.

8. For when it comes to saving fallen men and women, God has a plan and no amount of human interference will derail Him. God’s an to save His fallen creation culminates in the birth of Jesus. His arrival was the fulfillment of many prophecies that were given to comfort His people in their long, patient wait for His advent. The Prophet Isaiah acclaims Jesus to be: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (9,6). The angels heralded His birth, saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased (Luke 2,14)!

9. Tonight we celebrate this Redeemer in Word and Carols. God is with us, and His name is Jesus, God’s chosen, the Christ, the Only Son of God. Jesus is sent, and He is born of the virgin Mary. The angel tells Joseph to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. The name Jesus translates as „Yahweh is salvation“, and Jesus is born to save you, me and all creation from sin, death and the devil. When your sins overwhelm you, when your friends are sick or when you are concerned about some situation, do not despair but rejoice, for you have an ally. God is with you. Jesus is in your midst to redeem you from your sins and help you in all your needs. Yahweh our God is a powerful ally and friend; He has saved you from whatever wickedness this fallen world can hurl at you. In the fullness of time Yahweh chose Mary and Joseph to be Jesus’ parents. Luke reminds you that God is your help in time of need. You can’t save yourselves from your sins or any other predicament you find yourselves in. God must work in your lives; He will work in your life.

10. „Light breaks through Jesus’ birth in the middle of the night – it does not take much to experience this on Christmas Eve. It tells of the ancient promises of a King of Peace, who we find in Jesus, the descendant of King David and their fulfillment. He is Immanuel, God is with us. The night of His birth recalls the great mystery of God: truly in this little Child, in Jesus Christ, He shows Himself. God’s truth is located and veiled here and nowhere else“ (ELKB). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, both Son of God and Son of Man, the heavens are glad and the earth rejoices, for You have arrived to judge the earth. O Jesus, Your judgment upon us is not guilty; help us to rejoice in this marvelous justification so that we may live each day with the Christmas spirit of joy and peace. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

John 1,19-23. 4th Sunday in Advent

In the Name of Jesus

John 1,19-23 [24-28] 413

4. Sonntag im Advent 04 Rorate Caeli

Servulus, beggar at Rome † 590

23. December 2012

1. O Lord Jesus Christ, all Your holy Christendom rejoices this day to celebrate Your holy advent. We, poor, erring lambs, leap for joy that You, O Shepherd and Bishop of our lives, cause Your gracious presence to be realized among us in the blessed virgin Mary. O Lord do not depart from us with Your grace, but let us gratefully realize this gracious day of Your visitation, so that Your advent may always be salutary and full of grace unto us. With all Your pure Word, Your holy Sacraments, Your wisdom, support, favor, blessing and grace, visit us in our churches and our homes. We rejoice that You do not arrive as a Just Judge before whom we tremble, but rather You arrive as the Kind Redeemer with whom we will be co-heirs of the reign of heaven (Löhe 444-46).

2. And this is the testimony of John the Baptizer, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him: „Who are you?“ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed: „I am not the Christ.“ And they asked him: „What then? Are you Elijah?“ He said: „I am not.“ „Are you the Prophet?“ And he answered: „No.“ So they said to him: „Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?“ He said: „I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: »Make straight the way of Yahweh,« as the Prophet Isaiah said.“ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him: „Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah nor the Prophet?“ John answered them: „I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.“ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

3. We are on the cusp of Christ’s Nativity. The theme, therefore, this final Sunday in Advent is rorate caeli, pour down from heaven, O God, your gospel. The gospel is found in the pages of Holy Scripture from Genesis to Malachi and from Matthew to Revelation. Yahweh had promised to redeem and save His people, and He did so in specific ways that were definite acts of salvation in human history but which were also foretastes of His great gospel act of sending His very own Son upon this earth to rescue us.

4. The Pharisees, who were the keepers of the Mosaic law and the traditions of the elders, had sent the priests and Levites, who were the keepers of the temple and the atoning sacrifices, to John, who himself was also a priest in the temple, but who is now an itinerant preacher of repentance and baptism. They posed three questions of identity to John: Are you the Christ, Elijah or the Prophet? The final question is a reference back to Deuteronomy 18,15.18, where Moses told the people of Israel: »Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers and you shall listen to Him, for Yahweh will put His words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that Yahweh command Him.« John the Baptizer answers: no, he is not the Christ, nor Elijah nor the Prophet.

5. The Pharisees, priests and Levites are trying to fit John into the prophetic fulfillment of the Holy Scriptures. Who and what is John’s place in Yahweh’s Heilsgeschichte (salvation history)? John’s answer is: »I am the voice preaching in the wilderness to prepare Israel for the advent of Yahweh.«

6. In last week’s Holy Gospel, Jesus proclaimed of John: „You crowds went out to see a prophet, yes, and more than a prophet, for the Prophet Malachi wrote: »Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You« (3,1). John is this messenger who prepared the way for Jesus the Christ“ (Matthew 11, 9-10). The Prophet Malachi concludes his book with these words of Yahweh: »Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the great and awesome day of Yahweh arrives. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers« (4,5-6). Jesus later tells His apostles that the promised arrival of Elijah was fulfilled in the person and ministry of John the Baptizer (Matthew 17,13).

7. Usually, if one gets John the Baptizer right one also gets Jesus right. If John is the New Testament Elijah, then Jesus is the New Testament Elisha. Just as Elisha did greater things than Elijah, so too did Jesus do greater things than John. This is why John humbly says that he is unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. John preached: Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3,2). Jesus began His ministry likewise, preaching: Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4,17). Furthermore, Jesus revealed that He, the Word of God made flesh, is the very reign of heaven who is in our midst. Whereas John was not the Christ, Jesus is the Christ. Whereas John was not the Prophet, Jesus is the Prophet who would succeed Moses. »For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ« (John 1,17).

8. Therefore, the Prophet Isaiah proclaims: »How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings the gospel, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion: „Your God reigns.“« (Isaiah 52,7). This gospel was given to Elizabeth and then Mary. They were bearers of the gospel, and proclaimed the mercy of God with their hymns of praise. Thirty years later, first John and then Jesus preached this gospel to Israel and all the nations.

9. Mary sang: »for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His Name« (Luke 1,49). Mary’s God is our God, and He has done great things for us, too. Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus became man and was born into this world as the Son of God who became flesh. Jesus was born to suffer, die and rise again for the justification of sinners.

10. An early 17. century Advent hymn puts it this way:

All Christians, now rejoicing,

at this time of mercy,

because our salvation is coming,

the Lord of glory,

without haughty grandeur,

still powerful, to completely

devastate and destroy

the devil’s reign and power (Schirmer 7,1).

11. So it is in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. By His kindness, love and service, Jesus has redeemed us from depravity, death and the devil. John prepared His way and preached His imminent advent. Jesus walked the way and paid for our redemption. Tomorrow we will celebrate His birth into this world and rejoice in God the Father’s great gift to us. Amen.

16. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, who creates a pleasing theme to overflow within our hearts, give us the joy in Christ so that we may be comforted in our salvation and respond with verses of praise sung to His Holy Name. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

✠

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Schirmer, Michael. „Nun jauchzet, all ihr Frommen“ (All Christians, Now Rejoicing). Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch, 7. Edition. Copyright © 2005 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche (SELK). Translated by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind Copyright © 2012 The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Isaiah 40,1-8. The 3rd Sunday in Advent

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Isaiah 40,1-8 (9-11) 313

3. Sonntag im Advent 03 Gaudete

Adelheid, Empress, † 999

16. December 2012

1. O Heavenly Father, grant unto Your beloved Church so that, remembering her own unrighteousness and corruption, she may take no offense at the lowly presence and the despised word of her only King, the Just, the Helper, Jesus Christ; but always rejoice in His wonderful advent, and receive and accept Him in pure and ready hearts, gladly rejoicing in Him, and rendering all praise and glory to You forevermore. Amen. (Löhe 414).

2. ¹Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfareis ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. ³A voice cries:„In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground will become level, and the rough places a plain. ⁵And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.“ ⁶A voice says: „Cry!“ And I said:„What shall I cry?“ All flesh is grass, and all its beautyis like the flower of the field. ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. ⁹Get up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of gospel;lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of gospel;lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah: „Behold your God!“ ¹⁰Behold, the Lord who is the Lord comes with might, and His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. ¹¹He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

3. Before Yahweh’s Christ arrived He had sent a messenger to prepare His way. John was the forerunner to Jesus. John was a prophet. He preached a scathing message of the law: »Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand« (Matthew 3,2). »Flee God’s wrath and bear fruit worthy of repentance« (Matthew 3,7-8). John exhorts us to examine our lives with the lens of the law. The law focuses on our sin and reveals it. We fail to fear, love and trust God. We fail to love and serve our neighbors. The Prophet Isaiah compares our sinful lives to the grass and the flowers of the field. Just as they whither and fade, so too do we, so much so that we will one day die.

4. John exhorted his hearers in 1. century Judea to repent and be baptized. In doing so, they prepared themselves for the imminent advent of the Christ. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, Jewish men and women, tax collectors and Roman soldiers were among the crowds who heard John proclamation to repent (Matthew 3,7; Luke 3,10-14). John urged them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 3,3).

5. What does John’s law preaching mean to us who have already been baptized in the Triune Name of God? First, we should not fall into the opinion imagining that our Baptism is something past, which we can no longer use after we have fallen again into sin, for our Baptism is not to be regarded only according to the external act once performed and completed (80). Second, Holy Baptism is the ordinance of God, and not a work of ours. Every time we sin let us firmly cling to our Holy Baptism and live in it (82). Third, Holy Baptism is a great, excellent Sacrament, which delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God’s own, suppresses and takes away sin and then daily strengthens the new man; Holy Baptism is and remains ever efficacious until we pass from this life of sorrow to eternal glory (83). For this reason we esteem Holy Baptism as a daily dress in which we are to walk constantly, so that we may ever be found in the faith and its fruits, that we suppress the old man and grow up in the new (84). But if any one fall away from it, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy-seat, does not recede from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. If, therefore, we have once in Holy Baptism obtained forgiveness of sin, it will remain every day, as long as we live, that is, as long as we carry the old man about our neck (86).

6. The 3. Sunday in Advent is historically known as Gaudete, that is, Rejoice! The 40. Chapter of the Prophet Isaiah is overflowing with the theme of rejoicing. The Prophet Isaiah proclaims: »The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.« This eternal word of God is given to us in our Holy Baptism. Although we wither and fade like the grass and the flower, yet in Christ Jesus we live.

7. The 3. Sunday in Advent gives us an odd juxtaposition: John the Baptizer’s ministry is fading while Jesus’ is flourishing. We experienced the same this past Friday: Christmas is a time of joy, but one man turned it into a holiday of sorrow for dozens of families in Connecticut. For us, our lives have been shaken and for others their lives have been shattered. In the midst of this heartache and national tragedy, the promise of Gaudete Sunday rings out: Rejoice!

8. The Prophet Isaiah proclaims that those who wither will be refreshed, those who fade will be restored and those who die will live again. The Word of Yahweh promises it and that same Word will bring it to pass. Those who were brutally murdered in Newbury will live again, for on the last day their bodies will be raised up and they will be healthy and whole once again. The Word of Yahweh endures forever. The Word of Yahweh became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word, Jesus Christ, is risen and by His life we also live forever.

9. In this wicked world we will suffer agonizing struggles [Anfechtungen] and experience horrendous events. We will question why God allows such tribulations to afflict us. We will not receive the answers to such questions in this earthly life, so we will rely upon the very Word of God for our consolation and comfort. The gospel of the Holy Scriptures declares: The devil is defeated; death is mortally wounded; your sins are washed clean; hell’s gates are closed to you; God the Father has pronounced you „innocent“. You know this through what Christ has done. Behold your God: Christ Jesus who suffered on the cross, died and rose from the dead in victory over sin, death and the devil. Behold your God: who washed away your sins in the waters of Holy Baptism in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Behold your God: whose absolution was pronounced upon you with these pastoral words „Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, has had mercy upon us and has given His only Son to die for us and for His sake forgive us all our sins …“. Behold your God: who blesses you with His very Benediction which proclaims: „The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and ✠ give you peace“. Behold your God: Jesus Christ who is in in your midst in every struggle, tribulation or horrible experience.

10. We rejoice in Jesus, for St. Matthew reminds us: »Then children were brought to Jesus so that He might lay His hands on them, bless them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said: „Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the reign of heaven.“ And He blessed the children and went away« (Matthew 19,13-15). Jesus left to prepare our place with Him in heaven. On Friday Jesus called some of His little children to come unto Him and one day He will do the same for us where we will enjoy life eternal in His presence. Amen.

16. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness, draw our attention to Your glorious advent with Your grace and righteousness so that we are comforted and consoled in the justification You won for us at Your first advent. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

✠

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Isaiah 35,3-10. 2nd Sunday in Advent

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Isaiah 35,3-10

2. Sonntag im Advent 02 0213

Ad te Levavi

Joachim, father of the Virgin Mary

Gorgonia, Widow, † 369

1. O Ever-faithful and Merciful God, we render praise and thanksgiving unto You, that, by Your beloved Prophets You have promised to the Patriarchs of old the gift of Your Beloved Son, whom You did send into the world in the fullness of time, so that, by Him, Your holy will and counsel might be fully revealed unto us. He crushed the serpent’s head and has redeemed us from sin and death. All generations wait upon Him, and in Him are all the nations of the earth blessed. Prepare us, Good Lord, so that we may serve Him with undefiled hearts; and, when He arrives, to receive Him with joy; and, for this, we will thank You eternally in heaven (Löhe 443-44). Amen.

2. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart: „Be strong, and do not be afraid! Behold, your God comes with His justice and compensation. God arrives and saves you.“ Then the eyes of the blind are opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame man leaps like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sings for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand becomes a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass becomes reeds and rushes. And a highway is there, and it is called the Way of Holiness; the unclean do not pass over it. It belongs to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they do not go astray. No lion is there, nor any ravenous beast arrives up on it; they are not found there, but the redeemed walk there. And the ransomed of the Yahweh return and go to Zion with singing; everlasting joy is upon their heads; they obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing flee away.

3. As Isaiah writes chapter thirty-five, Israel was being oppressed by Assyria. In Isaiah’s day, Assyrian atrocities were well-known and feared. The Assyrians would conquer a city, or territory. All leaders who might rally a rebellion were killed. All the wealth was carted off to Nineveh. The local population was deported deep inside Assyrian territory and the soldiers responsible for taking the land married the local girls with the goal of imposing Assyrian values on the local population. They saw it and they trembled with fear, for Assyria had set its sights on the Promised Land with all its beauty and wealth. Israel saw sin, rebellion and evil personified in Assyria; Yahweh saw the same personified in Israel ... and in us.

4. Isaiah lays out the punishing accusations upon us under the law. In Isaiah 34 God unleashes the full might of His fury upon the earth. God’s anger smites the earth and the nations suffer. Rich farmlands became deserts and lakes dried up. Every thing is laid waste. Isaiah declares: For Yahweh is furious against all the nations, and enraged against all their armies: He has devoted them to destruction, He has given them over for slaughter. Yahweh’s fierce anger against the nations is the same anger that He had against us.

5. Isaiah longs for the Day of Yahweh. Yahweh’s law threatens punishment and condemnation, but His gospel promises acquittal and salvation. In the 8. century BC, all Israel could do was to wait and trust in God’s faithfulness. We, the new Israel, can only wait upon Yahweh and trust in His faithfulness. The Day of Yahweh is that final day when Yahweh consummates His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history). Isaiah and Israel looked forward to that day, although it was a distant day. Isaiah looked forward to that day as a day of judgment when wrongs were righted, the wicked were punished and the righteous rewarded by the Christ. The Church looks back upon that day as the day when sin was paid for, the wicked absolved and the sinner forgiven. The Day of Yahweh is the Day of Jesus’ crucifixion.

6. The Psalmist speaks of this day as: Unto You, O Yahweh, I lift up my life. (Psalm 25,1). The Evangelist proclaims: When you will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21,27-28). St. Luke the Evangelist reminds us that Jesus linked the Day of Yahweh, the arrival of the Son of Man, with great portents in the heavens. The Son of Man arrived in a cloud with great power and glory when He was born in Bethlehem and His arrival was fulfilled when He was crucified.

7. Advent is the preparation for the arrival of Jesus, who as the Son of Man Had His reign arrived on the cross. Advent connects us to both Jesus’ birth and His death. This is the wonder of Yahweh’s salvation: He advents Himself into our midst, and you cannot get more into our midst than with birth and death. Both events are pivotal events in our lives. Notice, that Jesus did not abstain Himself from His fallen creation. Jesus is born just as we are born. Jesus died just as each of us will one day die.

8. Therefore, the Prophet Isaiah proclaims: »Be strong, and do not be afraid! Behold, your God comes with His justice and compensation. God arrives and saves you.« This is the season of Jesus’ advent; He has arrived to justify us and to redeem us back to God the Father. He has paid for our sin, therefore we gladly repent and confess our sin knowing that we shall receive His absolution and forgiveness.

9. Isaiah assures us that such redemption is not only for fallen men and women, but also for creation that is in bondage to corruption. Isaiah proclaims that Yahweh will make big changes! The holy prophet describes this redemption on three levels: psychological, historical, and cosmological (Hummel 213). Yahweh will encourage us who tremble at the evil in this world. Yahweh will defeat the evil that infests creation. Yahweh will restore creation to its original purity and holiness. Yahweh promises that all these things will happen literally and completely on the Day of Yahweh, that great and glorious day when Christ comes from heaven to bring salvation.

10. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we do so with the hope and joy that creation will be liberated, mankind will be restored in purity and that our sins have been forgiven, solely by Christ Jesus our Advent Lord. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the world in Your righteousness and the peoples in Your faithfulness, You counsel us with the promise that Your words are more certain than the very heavens and earth so that we may endure the trials and tribulations of this fallen creation knowing that You will return and You will usher us into everlasting glory. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Luke 1,67-79. 1st Sunday in Advent

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Luke 1,67-79 113

1. Sonntag im Advent 01 Populous Zion

Bibiana, Virgin Martyr at Rome, † 363

2. December 2012

1. O Lord, our Heavenly Father, we give You most humble and hearty thanks for the consolation ministered to us in the gift of Your dear Son Jesus Christ, whom You did send to be a King and Savior, to redeem His people from their sin and to deliver them from the might of Satan and the power of everlasting death. We beseech You to grant unto us Your Holy Spirit to enlighten, govern and sanctify our hearts, so that we may truly acknowledge Him as our King and Savior, and perpetually cling to Him; and at all times grant unto us a true and living faith, so that we may not stumble at His humiliation, Word and Reign, which the world esteems so lightly (Löhe 119). Amen.

2. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying: „Praise be to the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who are seated in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.“

3. Zechariah was a priest in the temple. He was the father of John, older cousin to Jesus. This John would become known as John the Baptizer three decades later. Human frailty prevented John and his wife, Elizabeth, from having children. Both were old, and Elizabeth was barren. They were in the twilight of their years and the shadow of death encroached ever upon them.

4. We have our own frailties, too. Old age, chronic diseases and a host of other ailments wreck havoc upon our mind, body and spirit. These frailties, however, are merely symptoms of our much larger condition: our inherited wickedness that has been passed down to us by our parents. With original sin lurking in the deepest corners of our body and soul, we are people who are seated in darkness and wallow in the shadow of death. The grave and abandonment in Hades are what await you and me as a sinner.

5. Yahweh our Triune God is a God of action. First to Adam and Eve, He promised to send a savior for His fallen mankind. This promise was given to Abraham and Sarah, childless at the time, that through their son would descend this savior of mankind. At Sinai, Yahweh chose Isaac’s grandson Levi as the priestly tribe. Zechariah was a Levite descending from the clan of Abijah (my Father is Yahweh). Zechariah attended to the holy things of Yahweh for the holy people of Yahweh. Zechariah’s firstborn son, John, was the great herald for Jesus the Christ.

6. The 1. Sunday in Advent begins the new Church Year with the historic reading from the Palm Sunday account in the Gospel according to Matthew. The four (4) weeks in Advent prepare us for the incarnation and birth of Jesus the Christ. Advent, therefore, begins with the emphasis on justification and salvation, and we traditionally refer to Jesus’ Palm Sunday procession as His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus was born into this fallen world to justify and save sinners. John the Baptizer prepared the way for Jesus, and thus Zechariah proclaims Yahweh’s salvation.

7. Yahweh has raised up a Horn of Salvation for His people. The promise of a Mighty Savior had been made to Adam and Eve, and each successive generation received anew this promise of deliverance. By the time of King David, in 1000 BC, this promise had been connected to the lineage of David. A thousand years later, Zechariah the Priest proclaims that this Savior and Servant from the house of David is about to be born.

8. The prophets from of old had spoken of this Mighty Savior. The Prophet Isaiah described Jesus as the one who has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; by His bruises we are healed. The Righteous One, Yahweh’s Servant, makes all people righteous and He bears our iniquities (Isaiah 53,4-5.11). The Prophet Ezekiel described Jesus as the one who displays His holiness before the eyes of the nations so that they know that He is Yahweh (Ezekiel 36,23). The Prophet Micah proclaims Jesus pardons iniquity and passes over transgression; He has compassion upon us, and He treads our iniquities underfoot. He casts all our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7,18-19).

9. In bearing our iniquities, Jesus has saved us from our enemies, which are sin, death and hell. The devil, with his accusations against us, has been silenced. His accusations have been answered by Jesus. Our Heavenly Father’s judgment from His bench is that we are not guilty.

10. Yahweh shows mercy and remembers His holy covenant. His mercy proclaims that not only are we not guilty, but we are found innocent of all our sinful deeds and wicked ways.

11. For Jesus gives us knowledge of our salvation by the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus has born the punishment to be meted out upon sin. Jesus bore the wrath of God the Father and suffered the death of sinners that the law rightly and justly verdicts upon the sinner.

12. Jesus gives light to those seated in darkness and in the shadow of death. For those in the darkness Jesus is the Light, and for those in the shadow of death Jesus is the Life. The Apostle John speaks of this Divine Light and Life in his Gospel: »In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The True Light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but were born of God« (John 1,1-5.9-13).

13. Jesus guides our feet in the way of peace. The Apostle Peter told the Roman centurion Cornelius and his family: »As for the word that God the Father sent to Israel, preaching the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ who is Lord of all, to Him all the Prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name« (Acts 10,36.43).

14. Yahweh likes his pairs. He created mankind in His Divine image and likeness as male and female. He saved the animals during the Flood in pairs, two by two. Moses and Joshua with the glorious Sinai covenant. Elijah and Elisha the two greatest prophets in the Old Testament. Peter and Paul the two most influential apostles in the Western Church. A church and her pastor. Zachariah and Joseph the fathers of John and Jesus; Elizabeth and Mary their mothers. John and Jesus, one who prepared the way for the New Testament and the one who is the New Testament made flesh.

15. John prepared the way for Jesus by preaching: »Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand« (Matthew 3,2). This reign of heaven was manifested on Palm Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem where five days later He would be crucified in the place of sinners and raised as the first fruit of their resurrection. The reign of heaven is solus Christus (Christ alone) who entered Jerusalem as her rightful king who died as a cursed sinner and rose three days later as our Victorious Redeemer. We rejoice in this Savior’s first advent and we await his second. Amen.

16. Let us pray. O God, You shine forth from Zion and are the perfection of beauty; help us prepare for Jesus’s advent with repentant hearts so that when we celebrate His birth we may do so with joyful hearts certain of our forgiveness and eternal life. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

✠

Isaiah 65,17-25. Eternity Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Isaiah 65,17-19[20-22]23-25

Letzter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres (Ewigkeitssonntag) 073 5812

Katharina, Virgin, Martyr 306.

Isaac Watts, Father of English Hymnody. † 1748

25. November 2012

1. Stir up, we beseech You, O Lord, the wills of Your faithful people, so that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works; may by You, be plenteously rewarded (Book of Common Prayer). Amen.

2.„For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; no more will be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man will die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old will be accursed. They will build houses and inhabit them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit; they will not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree will the days of My people be, and My chosen will long enjoythe work of their hands. They will not labor in vain or bear children for calamity,for they will be the offspring of the blessed of Yahweh, and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will graze together; the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,“ says Yahweh.

3. The Prophet Isaiah describes, quite simply, an utopia. He says God will create eternal joy and gladness, the wolf and lamb will eat together and pain and destruction will be absent in heaven. Sir Thomas More coined the Greek word utopia for his 1516 novel Utopia which describes a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. In Book I, More lays out the problems of 16. century Europe and in Book II More describes how the inhabitants of Utopia have solved those problems. In a way this is the outline of the Bible. We begin in Genesis 1 and 2 with men and women living in blissful Paradise. Genesis 3 describes how Paradise was lost and from Genesis 3 to Revelation, the Holy Scriptures describe how this Paradise will be restored.

4. The flip side to utopia is dystopia, which is a community characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Popular dystopias are found in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Since the fall into sin by Adam, we have lived in a dystopian world that is corrupted.

5. Our sinful nature corrupts everything in God’s creation. We do not fear, love and trust God as we should. We do not love our neighbors. Such sinfulness manifests itself in many diverse ways. In the 21. century technology has created the fear of losing individual identity in our fast-paced culture. Add censorship and surveillance to this and you have three of the more pressing concerns of our times. We have wars and rumors of war, terrorist attacks, fears that the world will end in less than a month, fiscal and economic uncertainty plus a host of other concerns and fears that occupy our thoughts.

6. God’s people are not immune from these fears and concerns. Sometimes our fellow Christian brothers and sisters perpetuate such fears or are more directly responsible for them. We are all sinners in a sinful world.

7. Although we live in this dystopic world, yet we live as ones who have hope in God’s promise to restore His fallen creation. Yahweh promises: »For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered or come into mind«. Notice that Yahweh does not say: I will destroy the world, wash My hands of it and go about some other business. Rather, Yahweh says: I will destroy this present world and create a new world! Yahweh is not a God who delights in destruction, but He is a God who restores what is corrupted and makes new what is destroyed. Our future is not one of death and destruction, but rather a future of everlasting life with a new heaven and earth.

8. This new heaven and earth will truly be a utopia. Isaiah describes it in terms familiar to human beings. Children will not suffer hunger, pain or other calamities. The hunter will mingle with its prey. Wolves and sheep will eat together peacefully. Lions will eat plants like the oxen. Isaiah describes a complete upheaval of this present world, an upheaval that will result in a re-created world that truly is the Paradise of Genesis 1 and 2.

9. This new earth is not some far-off dream in the future. God the Father has given us a down payment on this future bliss right now. Yahweh had chosen Israel from all the nations to be His chosen people. Yahweh blessed them, established a covenant with them, provided them a land of milk and honey and made His very Divine Presence reside in Jerusalem via the temple. All of this was Yahweh’s unfolding Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) to redeem first Israel, and then through Israel He redeems all the nations of this dystopic world. The Israel of Isaiah’s day was not a paragon of faith and piety. Far from it, as Isaiah spends many of his 66 chapters warning Israel of impending Divine judgment upon them for their idolatry and sinful behavior toward their neighbors. Nevertheless, Yahweh would not, and did not, forsake His people. He promised to rescue them from their sinfulness and restore them after His judgment of exile. All this unfolded to fulfill the promise of the messiah’s advent.

10. The arrival of Jesus brings the last day promise of a new heaven and earth into this old, dystopic earth at this present time. Yahweh created Jerusalem to be a joy, and it was the city where sin was forgiven at the temple. Jesus completed His Father’s joy in Jerusalem by bearing the cross and leaving the tomb empty. When the Father rejoices in Jerusalem, He is rejoicing in Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus went up to Jerusalem where He suffered His Passion which culminated with His suffering and death on the cross. Jesus’ crucifixion ushered in the eschatological last day with it’s Divine justice.

11. Temporally, the last day is some time in the future, but Jesus’ advent warps and folds that day and it’s implications into His own time. The last day is ruled over by the judgment seat of Christ where the wicked are punished and the righteous are rewarded, where the unbelievers are condemned to eternal torment in hell and the believers are welcomed into the eternal life of Paradise. On the cross, our Heavenly Father’s wrath and judgment has been poured out. The wicked sinner has been punished by the demanding and unrelenting precepts of the law. The last day was manifested on the cross where Jesus bore upon Himself the guilt and sin of all people. Sin was condemned, the sinner was punished and death resulted upon the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ act of sacrifice ransomed us back to God because sin and death have been accounted for. The last day’s reward for the righteous is now credited to us.

12. This eschatology finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus and His death and resurrection. Heilseschatologie (salvation eschatology) is the future age of bliss when Paradise is restored, and this future age has been ushered in by Jesus. On the cross, Jesus told the insurrectionist crucified at His side: »Today you will be Me in Paradise« (Luke 23,43). The wise bridesmaids in today’s Gospel Reading had this promise of Paradise by faith and each one of us also has that same promise of Paradise by faith solo Christo (through Christ alone). Amen.

13. Our Lord Jesus Christ promised at His ascension that His apostles and their successors would make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the Triune Name and teaching them to obey everything He had commanded them. By Holy Baptism, Jesus has brought you forgiveness and salvation; He has given you the Holy Name of God, and He has brought you into the Divine family. You are heirs of God, and Paradise is your inheritance. Each day your Baptism is with you; it is a seal and sign of your status as a son or daughter in God’s holy family. We do not know the exact time when Jesus will make His second advent known. It may be today, tomorrow or centuries from now. Such a delay does not disturb us, for we have the the blessings of Holy Baptism with us daily, and the blessings of Holy Baptism keep us secure in the faith and patiently waiting for Christ’s return. Amen.

14. Let us pray. O Yahweh, You make known the path of life, send us Your Spirit so that we may be in Your presence with the fullness of joy and receive from Your right hand both earthly and heavenly pleasures. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

✠

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Revelation 2,8-11. 2nd Last Sunday in the Church Year

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Revelation 2,8-11 5712

Vorletzter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres 071; 26. S. n. Trinitatis

Gregory Thaumaturgus (the Wonder-worker), Bishop of Pontus. † 270

18. November 2012

1. O Lord Jesus Christ, as the Church Year draws to a close, we are reminded of our sinfulness and our failure to live sanctified lives full of good works for our neighbors. We have no excuse for the weakness of our flesh, and so we do fall at Your feet with humble and repentant hearts, trusting in Your compassionate mercy to forgive us of our failures, assuring us that we are justified in Your sight and sending to us the Holy Spirit who will indeed mold us into sanctified Christians complete with good works. Amen.

2. Jesus said to the Apostle John: „And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the First and the Last, who was dead and came back to life: I have known your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich, and the blasphemy of those saying that they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into jail, in order to tempt you and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one conquering will never ever be hurt by the second death.’“

3. The glorified and ascended Christ Jesus gave the last-living apostle, the beloved John, his apocalypse for the comfort of the Church. During the era of the apostles, the Church experienced varying degrees of trials, persecution and tribulation. The Deacon Stephen was the first martyr in the era of the apostles; he was the first of those Christians who would die on account of the blessed name of Jesus Christ. For three hundred years first the Jews and then the Romans spilled Christian blood in the hopes of stemming the inexorable victorious march of the Christian faith.

4. Christians in the 21. century still experience varying degrees of persecution and tribulation. Palestinian Christians, who trace their ancestry back to the 1. century Church, face struggles at the hands of occupying Israeli forces. African Christians face slavery or death at the hands of their non-Christian neighbors. American Christians have begun to face trials of conscience as their rights to the free exercise of religion are encroached upon.

5. To encourage the 3. Virginia Convention meeting in March 1775 to join the cause of fellow American colonies and colonists already fighting for freedom from King George III and the British Empire, Patrick Henry gave his soaring oratory that ended with his famous phrase: „Give me liberty or give me death!“ You and I as Christians have a long and privileged history of actually enduring and living freedom of faith or death.

6. John recalls the majestic title that Jesus bears as the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came back to life. Just as Jesus endured suffering and death, so too will we as Christians who bear His Divine Name. Jesus tells us: »You will be hated by all for My Name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household« (Matthew 10,22.24-25).

7. Thus Jesus tells us that in this earthly life we will, merely because we are Christians and associated with Jesus, endure suffering, persecution, tribulation and even death. Such trials tax our religious resolve. The temptation is to flee from suffering, to fold under pressure and relent, to bargain and compromise, to even renounce Christ Himself in order to remove the trials that press heavy upon us. We are not the first to face such temptations, for Christians of every generation have struggled with the dilemma as to whether they remain faithful to Christ and His Word or do they buckle under the pressure of the world and join the pagan throng. Remember how even the apostles, when face to face with Jesus’ arrest, suffering and crucifixion, all but the beloved John flee and forsake Jesus. Thus in our lives we have all forsaken Jesus in time of tribulation, sought the safety of our body and given up Christ so that we might save our own skins.

8. Where we fail to stay true to Christ Jesus during suffering, persecution and tribulation, there is one, yes, the One, our Lord Jesus Christ who faithfully endured suffering, persecution, tribulation and especially death for us and in our place. After all this, Jesus rose from the grave. This is why Jesus appears to John in his Apocalypse in radiant, resurrected glory. Jesus announces Himself as the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came back to life. When He commissioned His apostles, Jesus comforted them, saying: »Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear God who can destroy both soul and body in hell [1]. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father who is in heaven.« (Matthew 10,28-33).

9. Jesus exhorts us to steadfastness: » Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. The one conquering will never ever be hurt by the second death«, which is eternal damnation in hell. Look unto Jesus. Put your faith in Him. Jesus has suffered the first death, which is the physical death of the body. We will all die; it is the final result of this world’s trials and tribulations. Death, however, is not end. Suffering and persecution are not the final words in this fallen world. Jesus did indeed die, but He rose from the grave. He is the first fruits of the glorious resurrected body. Christ’s victory is your victory. His resurrection is your resurrection. Death has no dominion over Him, and therefore death has no dominion over you. Trust in Christ, for He is your eternal life. Look unto Christ, for He gives you the crown of everlasting life, which is the crown of righteousness (2. Timothy 4,8).

10. Jesus is your Source and Strength. This life is a marathon that requires the Christian runner to have endurance and and finish the race with our eyes on Christ. Our reward is the victor’s crown that is made from the pure gold of justification on account of Christ. For you who hope in Christ you have the promise that your first death transits you to the second life, which is everlasting life in the presence of the Triune God, the angels and archangels and all the Christians who have gone on before you. You have the blessings of this promise now by faith. You are righteous, you are justified and you are conquerors, all in and by Jesus Christ who is our crucified and risen Lord. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, our Righteousness Judge, give us the certainty of salvation so that in this life we are assured of our forgiveness and in the life to come will join all of creation in renewed glory. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

✠

¹ gehenna. When hell is referred to as the abode of the damned in body and spirit after the final resurrection and judgment, then that place of torture is designated as gehenna in the Greek and should always be translated as „hell“ or „gehenna“ in English translations (cf. Luke 12,5). Of significance is the fact that gehenna comes from the Hebrew Ge-Hinnom which means „Valley of Hinnom.“ This valley lay south of Jerusalem and was the city garbage dump where fires were always burning. Jesus compared „hell“ to this valley by referring in His teaching to the „gehenna of fire“ (Matthew 5,22; 18,9).

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Monday, December 17, 2012

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Saturday, December 1, 2012